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WiYera/  Cypher  of 

ana's  ^acon^^ 


Replies  to  Criticisms 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup 


D 


AM  in  good  hope  that  if  the  first  reading 
n^ove  an  objection,  the  second  reading 
will  make  an  answer. — Adv*  of  L* 


b 


FRANCIS  BACON'S  Bl-LITERAL  CYPHER. 

Surprise  has  been  expressed  that  I  have  not  more  fully 
replied  to  the  many  severe  and  unjust  criticisms  of  my  work — 
the  discovery  and  publication  of  the  Bi-literal  Cypher  of  Francis 
Bacon.  On  account  of  great  distance  causing  lapse  of  time, 
the  torrent  of  communications,  which  deluged  the  Times  and 
other  papers  and  magazines  in  London,  had  somewhat  sub- 
sided before  my  replies  to  any  could  be  returned  to  England, 
but  the  delay,  although  by  no  fault  of  ours  and  unavoidable, 
has  not  been  due  to  distance  alone. 

The  Times  published  two  short  letters  with  fair  promptness. 
Tlie  Literary  World  gave  space  to  two  others,  replying  to 
articles  appearing  in  its  own  columns;  and  the  Daily  News, 
of  April  30,  contained  a  part  of  my  answer  to  Sir  Henry 
Irving.  An  article  in  reply  to  some  of  the  critics,  prepared  for 
the  Pall  Mail  Magazine,  could  not,  from  prearrangement  of 
space,  appear  until  May — a  rather  late  date.  The  delay  was 
the  more  regretted  because  the  article  on  the  general  subject, 
published  in  the  March  number  of  the  same  magazine,  was 
prepared  and  sent  forward  before  the  criticisms  of  the  latter 
part  of  December  and  January  had  reached  me,  and,  though 
following  shortly  after,  was  in  no  way  a  reply. 

In  the  January  number  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  and 
After,  there  appeared  two  articles  of  attack  upon  the  Cypher, 
one  by  Mr.  Candler,  and  one  by  Mr.  R.  B.  Marston.  Mr. 
Marston,  I  understand,  is  a  member  of  the  firm  publishing  the 
magazine.  His  article  was  a  continuation  of  the  unfounded 
and  libelous  charges  appearing  in  the  Publishers'  Circular  and 
in  the  Times  concerning  myself  and  my  work.  I  replied  at 
length  and  forwarded  the  articles  to  Messrs.  Gay  &  Bird,  under 
date  of  February  5th,  desiring  that  the  denial  of  these  charges 
should  be  given  equal  prominence.  Electrotype  plates  were 
forwarded  for  illustration  of  the  technical  portions.    Plates  for 


fac-simile  pages  from  the  two  editions  of  De  Augmentis, 
affording  most  interesting  illustration  of  the  method  of  the 
cipher  and  of  the  differences  between  the  editions  of  1623 
and  1624,  \\:tr&-alSo  furnished.  I  am  now  advised  by  Messrs. 
Gay  ^'S>'Mi^t\\2^..\.he' Nineteenth  Century,  the  Contemporary 
Rei'iew,  kind  the  Tunes,  have  declined  to  publish  any  part  of 
these  articles. 

This  must  be  my  apology  for  now  issuing  in  pamphlet  form 
what  was  prepared  for  the  public  periodicals  and  should  have 
appeared  months  ago  as  part  of  the  discussion  of  the  subject 
that  is  of  interest  to  a  large  number  of  readers.  The  reluctance 
of  the  press  in  general,  to  print  anything  Baconian  is  well  illus- 
trated in  this  refusal  of  my  critics  to  give  place  to  my  replies. 
I  do  not  think  it  should  be  considered  a  waste  of  space  to 
discuss  discoveries  that  correct  history  in  important  particulars. 
The  cipher  is  a  fact,  and  cannot  be  ignored.  It  is  neither 
imagination  nor  creation  of  mine.  It  is  a  part  of  the  history 
of  England,  and  effort  should  be  directed  to  further  investiga- 
tions along  the  lines  it  indicates — to  search  among  old  MSS., 
in  the  museums  and  libraries  and  in  the  archives  of  the  gov- 
ernment, for  other  facts  which  in  the  light  of  the  cipher  revela- 
tions will  be  better  understood  than  they  have  been  in  the  past. 

Concerning  my  reply  to  Mr.  Marston's  charges,  I  am  in 
receipt  of  the  Literary  World  of  May  2nd,  which  over  his 
name  has  the  following : 

"Dear  Sir: — I  will  not  waste  your  space  replying 
at  length  to  Mrs.  Gallup,  except  to  ask  her  where  she 
has  replied  to  my  article  in  The  Nineteenth  Century 
for  January,  and  to  my  letters  in  The  Times? 

"In  your  columns  and  in  the  May  number  of  The 
Pall  Mall  Magazine.  Mrs.  Gallup  says  she  has  elsezuhere 
replied  to  my  request  for  an  explanation  of  the  fact 
that  many  passages  in  what  she  says  is  Bacon's  transla- 
tion of  Homer  are  identical  with  Pope's  Homer  pub- 
lished more  than  200  years  afterward !      .      .      .      . 

"In  a  letter  in  The  Times  Mrs.  Gallup  did  suggest 
that  Bacon  and  Pope  had  used  some  edition  of  Homer 
miknozun  to  any  one  else." 

In  the  above  we  note  the  strange  inconsistency  of  Mr. 
Marston,  for  my  letter  published  in  the  Times  did  not  "sug- 
gest" or  even  refer  to  any  edition  of  Homer  whatever.     His 


reference  is  to  a  paragraph  in  my  reply  (i)rinted  herewith)  to 
his  baseless  aspersions,  and  shows  conchisively  that  he  had 
read  my  refutation,  and  knew  that  in  the  article  submitted  to 
his  magazine  and  rejected  I  had  "elsewhere  replied"  to  his 
request. 

In  the  article  next  preceding  Mr.  Marston's  letter,  "Re- 
viewer" also  states :  "Now  as  to  Homer,  I  have  read  Mrs. 
Gallup's  'answer'  to  Mr.  Marston,"  etc. 

This  indicates  that  both  Mr.  Marston  and  "Reviewer"  had 
examined  my  article,  and  they  comment  upon  specific  portions 
of  it  before  it  has  been  published,  while  ordinary  courtesy 
should  have  withheld  criticism,  at  least  until  the  article  had 
appeared  in  print. 

It  may  not  be  inopportune  to  report  at  this  time  the  results 
of  researches  made  for  me  at  the  British  Museum  and  else- 
where, since  Mr.  Marston's  malicious  charge  of  "paraphrasing 
Pope's  translation  of  the  Iliad"  was  made.  Fourteen  transla- 
tions in  Latin,  French,  German,  Italian  and  English,  pub- 
lished before  1620,  were  carefully  examined  for  the  reading  in 
the  disputed  passages.  Bacon's  "impatient  arrow"  is  "eager 
shaft"  in  Chapman's  translation,  and  "long  distance  shots"  is 
rendered  "his  hitting  so  far  off,"  the  Greek  words  conveying 
the  same  idea  to  these  two  minds.  Mr.  Marston  matched 
Bacon's  "cold  Dodona"  against  Pope's  "cold  Dodona,"  but 
Hobbes  has  "Dodona  cold,"  and  a  modern  Greek  scholar  ren- 
ders it  "chilly  Dodona."  He  also  pairs  "rocky  Aulis"  with  the 
same  in  Pope,  but  gives  it  as  the  literal  translation  also;  and 
he  places  Bacon's  "he  leapt  to  the  ground"  opposite  Pope's 
"leaps  upon  the  ground,"  while  it  is  more  like  the  line  of 
Hobbes,  "he  leapt  to  land."  Another  renders  this  "he  leap'd 
to  the  land,"  and  still  another,  "he  leaped  upon  the  earth." 

The  examination  also  developed  the  fact  that  Pope's  orig- 
inal MSS.,  preserved  at  the  Museum,  have  closer  resemblances 
to  Bacon's  Argument  of  the  Iliad  than  are  found  in  Pope's 
published  work.  This  is  very  significant,  and  in  itself  refutes 
the  charge,  as  I  have  never  seen  the  MSS.,  and  the  first  edition 
of  my  book  containing  the  Argument  of  the  Iliad  was  pub- 
lished the  year  before  I  went  to  England  to  pursue  the  work 
at  the  British  Museum. 


In  Bacon's  Argu}}ie>it  we  find : 

"Peneleus,  Leitus,  Prothoenor,  joyned  with  Arcesilaus  and 
bold  Clonius,  equall  in  arms  and  in  command,  led  Boeotia's 
hosts." 

This  in  his  fuller  poem  appears : 

"Pendens,  Leitus,  and  Prothoenor, 
Join'd  with  Arcesilaus  and  hold  Clonins — 
Tiwo  equal  men  in  arms  and  in  command — 
Led  forth  Boeotia's  hosts." 

Pope's  MS.  at  the  British  Museum  reads : 

"The  hardy  warriors  whom  Boeotia  bred 
Bold  Clonins  Leitus  and  Peneleus  led." 

But  these  were  afterward  emended  to  suit  his  verse,  and 
the  printed  lines  are : 

"The  hardy  warriors  whom  Boeotia  bred, 
Penelins,  Leitus,  Prothoenor  led : 
With  these  Arcesilaus  and  Clonins  stand 
Equal  in  arms  and  equal  in  command." 
By  these  comparisons  we  see  that,  in  the  printed  poem, 
Clonins  has  lost  his  boldness  and  Peneleus  has  changed  the 
spelling  of  his  name. 

Again  in  the  original  MS.  we  find : 

"When  first  I  led  my  troops  to  Pliaeas  wall 
And  heard  fair  Jordan's  silver  zvaters  fall." 
But  in  Pope's  printed  poem  it  reads : 

"When  fierce  in  war,  where  Jardan's  waters  fall, 
I  led  my  troops  to  Phea's  trembling  wall." 
In  this  place  Bacon  omits  all  mention  of  the  Jardan,  but  in 
the  catalogue  of  the  ships  he  says,  "Phaestus,  by  the  silver  Jar- 
dan."  Chapman  gives  the  name  of  the  river,  Jardanus,  an- 
other translator  speaks  of  the  Jardan,  but  Mr.  Marston,  I 
notice,  writes  the  word  lardus. 

In  his  MS.  Pope  had  "hilly  Eteon"  ;  Bacon  wrote  "hillie 
Eteon" ;  but  Pope's  printed  work  has  "Eteon's  hills." 

It  is  conceded  that  Pope  followed  Ogilby  very  closely. 
There  may  be  some  interesting  developments  in  the  history  of 
the  latter.  We  know  that  he  was  much  employed  about  Gray's 
Inn.  and  that  he  was  afterward  taught  Greek  and  Latin  by  the 
Oxford  students  to  enable  him  to  translate  Homer  and  Virgil. 


One  thing  needs  no  demonstration,  that  there  was  nothing  in 
Bacon's  Homer  that  made  it  necessary  to  keep  it  concealed 
before  or  after  it  was  put  in  cipher.  Upon  that  point  he  says 
that  cipher  writing  became  so  much  a  habit,  and  pastime,  that 
he  embodied  many  things  in  it  not  necessarily  secret.  I 
quote : 

"And  yet  I  have  also  emploied  my  cyphers  for  other  then 
secret  matters  in  many  of  my  later  bookes,  because  it  hath 
now  become  so  much  an  act  of  habite,  I  am  at  a  losse  at  this 
present  having  less  dificile  labour,  now,  then  in  former  times 
in  Her  Ma.'s  service." — Bi-literal  Cypher,  p.  66. 

In  the  matter  of  criticism  and  expression  of  individual 
opinion,  we  might  quote  from  Bacon's  Essay  of  Custom  and 
Education:  "Men's  thoughts  are  much  according  to  their 
inclination;  their  discourse  and  speeches  according  to  their 
learning  and  infused  opinions,  but  their  deeds  are  after  as  they 
have  been  accustomed. 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup. 
Detroit,  Mich.,  May  15,  1902. 


REPLIES  TO  CRITICISMS. 

ElylZABETH  WEI^IvS  GAI.I.UP. 

In  presenting  the  results  of  my  work  in  deciphering  the  bi- 
literal  cypher,  I  expected  criticism,  but  it  has  taken  on  some 
features  that  have  been  quite  surprising  to  me. 

To  answer  fittingly  all  the  questions  raised  would  be  to 
write  a  book.  Some  are  relevant,  many  not ;  some  are  prompted 
by  desire  for  knowledge,  others  by  a  desire  to  check  what  they 
regard  as  a  heresy;  most  show  unfamiliarity  with  the  subject^ 
and  not  a  few  are  mistaken  in  their  statements  of  facts. 

REPLY  TO  MR.  CANDI.ER. 

Mr.  Candler,  in  the  January  number  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  republishes  modified  portions  of  an  article  that 
appeared  in  Baconiana  to  which  I  replied  some  time  since,  send- 
ing a  copy  of  my  article  to  him  and  to  that  magazine. 

Mr.  Candler  makes  his  objections  under  the  heads :  His- 
tory, Language,  Arithmetical  Puzzles,  Geography,  Proper 
Names,  and  Bacon's  Poetry. 

HISTORY. 

As  to  History,  I  can  only  say,  if  the  decipherings  had  been 
my  own  invention,  I  should  have  had  them  in  substantial  accord 
with  such  records  as  exist,  defective  as  they  now  appear.  Had 
I  "followed"  accepted  history,  and  prevailing  ideas,  and 
found  in  the  cipher  confirmation  of  what  people  wish  to  have 
true,  I  should  have  received  encomiums  due  to  an  important 
discovery,  and  commendation  for  great  skill  and  industry  in 
working  it  out. 

It  was  my  misfortune  that  the  cipher  would  not  read  that 
way,  and  no  preconceived  notions  of  my  own  could  aflfect  it. 
As  I  have  elsewhere  said  "the  facts  of  history"  is  an  elastic 
term,  and  means  to  the  individual  that  portion  which  the  indi- 
vidual has  learned.  The  records  are  by  no  means  in  accord, 
and  discrepancies  may  well  be  left  to  the  investigators,  whose 


revisions  from  data  they  may  hereafter  be  able  to  collect  may 
greatly  change  existing  ideas.  The  decipherer  is  in  no  way 
resix)nsible  for  the  disclosures  of  the  cipher,  nor  allowed  specu- 
lation as  to  the  probabilities  in  the  case.  One  question  only  is 
admissible — what  does  the  cipher  tell  ? 

IvANGUAGE. 

Under  Language,  Mr.  Candler  makes  five  subdivisions. 

1.  "It  was  the  English  custom  to  use  his  in  connection  with 
inanimate  objects  where  we  now  use  its.  This  custom  died  out 
about  1670." 

This  first  objection  is  answered  by  himself,  but  in  this  con- 
nection he  states : 

"Its  (or  earlier,  it's)  began  to  creep  into  literature  about  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  though  doubtless  it  was  used  col- 
loquially at  an  earlier  date." 

As  to  his  other  deductions  on  this  point,  I  cannot  speak  from 
knowledge,  but  whoever  put  out  the  First  Folio  was  certainly 
not  averse  to  the  use  of  its.  In  my  former  paper  in  Baconiana 
I  gave  from  the  Shakespeare  folio  ten  examples  of  the  use  of  the 
word.  As  there  is  no  punctuation  in  the  cipher,  I  am  unable  to 
determine  which  form  Bacon  used,  it's  or  its,  but  that  he  used 
the  word  frequently  in  some  parts  of  the  cipher  and  not  at  all 
in  others,  any  reader  may  easily  see.  Thereof,  of  which  Mr. 
Candler  speaks,  though  more  rarely  found  was  occasionally 
used. —  (See  Bi-literal  Cypher,  p.  30,  1.  4;  p.  61,  1.  24.) 

2.  "From  the  date  1000  or  earlier,  we  find  many  instances 
of  his  used  instead  of  s  in  the  possessive  case,  and  similarly,  for 
the  sake  of  uniformity,  of  her  and  their.  .  .  .  But  in 
Bacon,  after  a  diligent  collation  of  a  great  many  pages,  I  find 
the  general  use  of  s  without  an  apostrophe  for  the  possessive 
case  both  for  singular  and  plural,  and  no  use  of  his,  her,  or  their 
in  this  sense.  When  a  noun  ends  with  an  .?  sound,  Bacon  joins 
the  two  words  without  a  connecting  .y.  Thus :  'Venus 
minion,'  'St.  Ambrose  learning,'  and  the  curious  form  'Achille's 
fortune,'  which  may  be  a  printer's  error,  as  the  apostrophe  here 
is  in  the  wrong  place.  All  these  come  from  1640  edition  of  the 
Advancement  of  Learning,  Books  i,  2." 

In  a  footnote  Mr.  Candler  speaks  of  the  seven  instances  sent 
him  of  the  disputed  form,  but  I  wish  to  give  them  here.     Henry 


Seventh,  (1622),  "King  Henry  his  quarrell,"  p.  24;  the  Con- 
spiratours  their  intentions,"  p.  124;  "King  Edward  Sixt  his 
time,"  p.  145;  "King  Henrie  the  Eight  his  resokition  of  a 
Divorce,"  p.  196;  "King  James  his  Death,"  p.  208.  Also  in 
Advancement  of  Learning  (1605),  Book  i,  "Socrates  his 
ironicall  doubting,"  p.  26;  and  one  may  see,  "Didymus  his 
Freedman,"  in  the  Tacitus.  How  many  instances  does  he 
wish? 

Mr.  Candler  further  says :  "And  now  for  the  'Bacon'  of 
Mrs.  Gallup.  Turning  casually  over  the  leaves  of  her  story  I 
find  'Solomon,  his  temple,'  p.  24;  'England,  her  inheritance,' 
p.  27;  'man,  his  right,'  p.  23  and  p.  24;  'my  dear  lord,  his 
misdeeds,'  p.  43;  'the  roial  soveraigne,  his  eies,'  p.  59;  'Cor- 
nelia, her  example;'  'the  sturdy  yeomen,  their  support;'  'a 
mother,  her  hopes ;'  'woman,  her  spirit ;'  and,  curiously  enough, 
where  we  might  have  expected  an  Elizabethan  to  have  employed 
his  'Achilles'  mind,'  p.  302." 

Aside  from  the  apostrophe,  which  could  not  of  course  be 
placed  in  cipher  in  the  one  case — suggested  as  a  printer's  error 
in  the  other — the  forms  "Achilles  fortune"  and  "Achilles  mind" 
are  the  same.  We  have  the  following  examples  and  many 
others  of  the  first  form  also  in  the  Bl-Uiaral  Cypher,  (omitting 
apostrophes,)  "Elizabeths  raigne,"  p.  4;  "Kings  daughter," 
ibid.;  "loves  first  blossom,"  "lifes  girlod,"  p.  5;  "stones 
throw,"  "Edwards  sire,"  p.  6;  "lions  whelp,"  p.  7,  etc.,  etc.,  etc., 
and  we  see  that  both  forms  are  used  in  the  published  works  and 
in  cipher. 

3.  Mr.  Candler  says  :  "It  was  the  custom  to  finish  the  verb 
with  J  after  plural  nouns,  as  if  it  were  the  third  person  singular," 
but  complains  that  I  do  not  recognize  this  in  the  deciphered 
work. 

In  two  plays  fifteen  instances  were  found,  seven  of  which  are 
with  the  verb  is  or  the  abbreviation  's.  In  the  Bi-literal  Cypher, 
p.  177, 1.  9,  Bacon  speaks  of  "Hies  which  is  laid  by  for  the  good 
opportunitie."     There  are  undoubtedly  other  examples. 

4.  "Mrs.  Gallup's  'Bacon'  is  repeatedly  quoting  from  his 
own  published  works  and  from  the  plays  of  Shakespeare." 

A  reason  is  given  for  this,  in  the  Bi-litcral  Cypher,  p.  25. 
There  are  many  examples  also  in  Bacon's  open  works,  e.  g., 


"Females  of  Seditions"  is  found  in  Henry  Seventh,  p.  137, 
while  in  Essay,  Seditions  and  Troubles,  it  appears  in  this  form : 
"Seditious  tumults  and  seditious  fames  difYer  no  more  but  as 
brother  and  sister,  masculine  and  feminine." 

From  the  Shakespeare  plays  we  have, 

"we  see 

The  waters  swell  before  a  boyst'rous  storme." — Rick.  III. 

This  occurs  again  as  follows:  "And  as  there  are  cer- 
tain hollow  blasts  of  wind  and  secret  swellings  of  seas  before  a 
tempest." — Ess.  Seditions  and  Troubles.  Also  this :  "Times 
answerable,  like  waters  after  a  tempest,  full  of  working  and 
swelling." — Avdt.  of  L.  (1605),  Book  2,  p.  13. 

A  like  recurrence  is  found  in  these :  "And  as  in  the  Tides  of 
People  once  up  there  want  not  commonly  stirring  winds  to 
make  them  rough." — Henry  Seventh,  p.  164;  "For  as  the  aun- 
ciente  in  politiques  in  popular  Estates  were  woont  to  Compare 
the  people  to  the  sea,  and  the  Orators  to  the  winds  because  as 
the  sea  would  of  itselfe  be  caulm  and  quiet,  if  the  windes  did 
not  moove  and  trouble  it,;  so  the  people  would  be  peaceable  and 
tractable  if  the  seditious  orators  did  not  set  them  in  working 
and  agitation." — Advt.  of  L.  (1605),  Book  2,  2nd  p.  yy. 

Many  of  the  culled  expressions  in  Bacon's  Promus  are 
employed  in  the  cipher,  as  I  have  already  found.  When  the 
same  incidents  are  related  in  the  word-cipher  that  are  given  in 
the  biliteral,  large  passages  must  appear  in  both  the  Bi-literal 
Cypher  and  Bacon's  open  works. 

5.  Mr.  Candler  makes  a  series  of  verbal  distinctions,  as 
follows :  "There  are,  I  think,  words  used  in  the  cipher  story 
in  quite  a  wrong  sense.  I  will  give  instances :  'Gems  rare  and 
costive.'     Murray  gives  no  example  of  costive  meaning  costly. 

'I  am  innocuous  of  any  ill  to  Elizabeth.'  Neither  Murray 
nor  Webster  gives  any  example  of  'innocuous  of,'  i.  e.,  'inno- 
cent of,'  though  innocuous  may  mean  innocent.  Shakespeare 
does  not  use  the  word. 

'Surcease'  is  a  good  enough  word,  but  'surcease  of  sorrow' 
is  used  by  Poe,  an  American  author ;  and  the  use  of  the  phrase 
by  Mrs.  Gallup's  'Bacon'  makes  one  wonder  whether  he  had 
ever  read  The  Raven. 


'Cognomen,'  p.  29.  No  instance  j^^iven  in  Murray  earlier 
than  1809.  'Desiderata,'  p.  161.  No  instance  of  'desideratum' 
earlier  than  1652. 

'Hand  and  glove,'  p.  359.    Earliest  instance  in  Murray,  1680. 

'Cognizante'  adj.  Earliest  example  in  Murray,  1820,  Mur- 
ray says,  'Apparently  of  modern  introduction;  not  in  diction- 
aries of  the  eighteenth  century ;'  ,  .  .  (cognisance  is  quite 
early,  both  as  a  law  term  and  in  literary  use.)" 

These  are  refinements  beyond  reason.  Bacon  added  thou- 
sands of  new  words  and  new  uses  of  words  to  the  language. 
There  is  something  applicable  to  the  case  in  the  Advancement  of 
Learning  ( 1 605  ) . 

"I  desire  it  may  bee  conceived  that  I  use  the  word  in  a  differ- 
ing sense  from  that  that  is  receyved,"  and  "I  sometimes  alter  the 
uses  and  definitions." — Book  2,  pp.  24-25. 

Had  the  word  costive  occurred  but  once  I  should  have  con- 
sidered it  intended  for  costlye  as  we  find  it  in  Bacon.  He  may 
have  used  a  v  where  3;  was  intended. 

It  is  true  innocuous,  from  the  Latin  innocims,  in  the  diction- 
aries is  used  only  of  things,  but  Bacon  evidently  employed  it 
differently,  and  wrote  "innocuous  of  ill"  as  he  would  have 
written  "not  guilty  of  crime."  In  Anatomy  of  Melancholy 
(1621)  we  find  "Northerne  men,  innocuous,  free  from  riot" 
(p.  82),  and  "The  patient  innocuous  man." 

Surcease  is  used  in  the  Shakespeare  plays — Cor.,  Act  3; 
Rom.  &  Jul.,  Act  4;  Macb.,  Act  i.  It  is  in  Lucrece,  and  also 
occurs  in  Bacon's  acknoweldged  works.  He  had,  perhaps,  as 
good  reason  as  Poe  to  desire  'surcease  of  sorrow.' 

Certainly,  Bacon  had  a  right  to  use  words  existing  in  any 
language.  We  know  that  he  anglicized  many  from  the  Latin 
and  the  French.  Cognomen  is  of  course  from  the  Latin;  desi- 
derata, Mr.  Candler  admits,  was  used  in  1652;  cognizante — or 
as  it  is  elsewhere  spelled  in  the  cipher,  cognisant — might  be 
allowed  him  on  the  ground  that  cognisances  was  certainly  in 
use. — Henry  Seventh,  p.  211 ;  i  Hen.  VI.,  Act  2;  Jul.  Caesar, 
Act  2 ;  Cym.,  Act  2. 

arithme;ticaIv  puzzles. 

Mr.  Candler  is  also  inaccurate  in  his  arithmetic.  He  has  not 
carefully  read  pp.  66  and  6y,  where  it  is  explained  that  Latin 
letters,  called  by  us  Roman,  were  used  in  a  few  dedications, 


prologues,  etc.  I  did  not  find  these  employed  until  the  publica- 
tions of  1623 — in  the  folio  and  Vitse  et  Mortis.  I  have  also 
shown  elsewhere  that,  at  the  end  of  short  sections  that  did  not 
join  with  other  works,  there  were  occasionally  a  few  letters 
more  in  the  exterior  passage  than  were  required  for  the  enfolded 
portion.  These  are  nulls  and  not  used.  Mr.  Candler  gives 
the  number  of  letters  in  the  catalogue  of  the  plays  as  850  and 
says  the  portion  extracted  required  860.  Both  numbers  are 
wrong.  The  cipher  enfolded  required  855  letters,  and  that  is 
the  exact  number  of  letters  in  the  catalogue  when  the  Roman 
type  is  included  and  the  diphthongs  and  digraphs  are  regarded 
as  separate  letters. 

GEOGRAPHY. 

Just  what  Mr.  Candler  would  have  us  understand  by  refer- 
ring to  the  incorrect  geography  in  the  plays  is  not  quite  clear. 
It  has  no  relevance  to  the  cipher  nor  does  it  determine  whether 
Bacon  or  Shakespeare  would  suffer  most  from  the  criticism. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  next  paragraph  under  "Proper 
Names,"  for  it  was,  and  is,  at  least  poetic  license  to  change  the 
pronunciation  in  that  manner;  and  as  to  the  spelling  of  Iliad 
on  page  176  of  the  Bi-literal,  we  have  in  Troilus  and  Cressida 
a  parallel  in,  "  as  they  passe  toward  Illium."  Neither  spelling 
nor  pronunciation  were  well  defined  arts  in  Bacon's  day  or  in 
Bacon's  books. 

bacon's  poetry. 

The  quoted  verse  of  this  "concealed  poet"  speaks  for  itself, 
and  on  this  point  I  may  well  be  silent,  except  to  say  the  partic- 
ular poetry  Mr.  Candler  condemns  is  said  to  have  been  written 
on  a  sick  bed  at  the  age  of  sixty-two. 

It  is  amusing  to  see  how  many  plans  are  made  for  Bacon  by 
these  critics,  how  many  things  are  pointed  out  that  he  might, 
or  should  have  done.  Their  long  experience  in  surmising 
what  Shakespeare  may,  can,  must,  might,  could,  would,  or 
should  have  done  in  order  to  reconcile  asserted  facts  has  given 
them  the  habit  of  "guessing." 

Mr.  Candler  adds  some  footnotes,  in  one  of  which  he  quotes  : 
"  'Mrs.  Gallup,  when  challenged,  failed  to  point  out  the  cipher, 
an  easy  matter  if  it  really  existed ;  and  now  avows  that  without 
extraordinary  faculties  and  a  kind  of  "inspiration,"  none,  save 


herself,  need  expect  to  perceive  it.'  "  And  adds,  "It  should 
be  understood  that  the  President  and  Council  of  the  Baconian 
Society  enter  a  formal  caveat  that  nothino^  in  Mrs.  Gallup's 
interpretation  can  be  said  to  have  been  satisfactorily  proved." 

I  remember  very  well  the  evening  to  which  the  extract  from 
Baconiana  refers,  when,  upon  the  invitation  of  a  member  of  the 
legal  profession,  my  sister  and  myself  explained  to  two  prom- 
inent Baconians  the  method  and  scope  of  our  work.  In  theory, 
they  accepted — or  seemed  to  accept — what  is  unmistakably  true, 
that  for  different  sizes  of  type, — pica,  small  pica,  English,  etc. 
Bacon  arranged  different  alphabets.  It  was  shown  that  one 
size  of  ornamental  capitals  belonged  to  the  'a  fount,'  in  another 
size  the  ornamental  letters  belonged  to  the  'h  fount.'  This  was 
admitted  as  very  possible,  even  probable,;  yet  when  this  was 
applied  to  practical  demonstration  of  what  Bacon  did,  they 
exclaimed:  "Impossible!!"  "Bacon  never  would  have  done 
that!  etc.,  etc."  This  could  not  be  thought  a  receptive  frame 
of  mind,  and  just  how  they  knew  what  Bacon  would  not  have 
done  I  cannot  tell. 

Afterward  I  showed  them  which  letters  belonged  to  the  'h 
fount,'  in  a  number  of  lines  of  the  Dedicatory  Epistle  of  Spen- 
ser's Complaints  J  in  no  single  instance  varying  from  the  marking 
of  the  manuscript  from  which  my  book  was  printed.  This  was 
candidly  admitted,  yet,  when  this  interview  was  reported,  it 
read  as  above  quoted. 

When  I  first  put  out  the  cipher,  I  thought  any  one  who  would 
take  the  time  could  decipher  all  that  I  have  done,  but  when  I 
fcxund  people  who  could  not  distinguish  between  this  "Ji?  and  tt? 
to  say  nothing  of  obscure  o's  and  ^'s,  I  despaired  of  their  be- 
coming decipherers.  There  are,  of  course,  many  who  have  a 
correct  eye  for  form,  who  will  be  able  in  time  to  overcome  the 
difficulties  this  study  presents,  but  I  wish  to  ask  Mr.  Candler 
if  he  does  not  think  the  small  a's,  c's,  etc.,  of  the  Latin  illus- 
tration in  De  Augmentis  Scientiarum,  which  he  says  a  child 
could  manage,  quite  as  bewildering  as  any  of  the  Italic  letters 
elsewhere  ? 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Candler's  article  he  desires  that  I  "get 
together  a  few  men  who  know  something  about  books,  and  add 
to  them  a  printer  or  two,  familiar  with  types,  new  and  old; 

^3  ;.   v3^N  ■ 


between  them  if  they  extract  a  consecutive  narrative 
there  is  nothing  more  to  be  said."  I  have  extended  this  invita- 
tion many  times,  only  to  have  it  poHtely  declined.  The  Editor 
of  the  Times  refused,  more  than  a  year  ago,  to  consider  this 
request.  Now,  having  practically  lost  the  use  of  my  eyes  for 
such  close  work  as  this  entails,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  forego,  for 
a  time  at  least,  until  a  greater  degree  of  strength  has  returned, 
the  satisfaction  it  would  be  to  point  out  in  detail  to  a  committee 
the  various  differences,  though  it  seems  to  me  they  should  be 
readily  observable  without  my  aid.  In  the  meantime  I  rest  in 
confidence  that  it  will  be  correctly  done  by  some  one,  somewhere 
and  sometime. 


14 


REPLY  TO  MR.  MARSTON. 

It  seems  rather  infantile  to  call  attention  to  the  spelling,  but 
as  Mr.  Marston  deems  it  of  sufficient  importance  to  draw  from 
it  the  following  inference,  he  must  think  it  serious.  I  quote 
from  the  Times  of  January  3  :  "The  whole  thing  is  so  trans- 
parently a  concoction  that  a  school  boy  who  was  reading  this 
deciphered  Tragedy  asks:  'Was  Bacon  a  Yankee?  He  spells 
words  like  "labour"  and  "honour"  without  the  "u".'  " 

I  would  reply  that  he  was  the  same  person  that  wrote  the 
Shakespeare  plays.  The  folio  shows  both  ways  of  spelling. 
But  all  the  word-cipher  productions  were  printed  according  to 
modern  American  usage,  as  in  this  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn. 

Mr.  Marston  emphasizes  the  matter  by  a  second  allusion  to 
this  peculiarity  as  discrediting  my  work,  in  the  following 
words:  "And  Mrs,  Gallup  asks  the  world  to  believe  Bacon 
wrote  this  'new  drama'  in  order  to  vindicate  the  'honor'  of  his 
grandmother." 

A  few  minutes'  examination  shows,  in  the  first  four  plays  of 
Shakespeare,  forty-four  instances  of  the  spelling  of  honor,  with- 
out the  u,  against  twenty-five  occurrences  of  the  word  with  the 
u.  For  the  spelling  of  labor,  I  will  take  time  and  space  to  quote 
only  a  single  line  from  the  first  folio : 

"There  be  some  Sports  are  painfull  and  their  labor — " 
Tern.  3-1-1. 

These  words  occur  in  the  cipher  story,  as  in  the  plays,  spelled 
both  ways.* 

This  suggests  one  thing  of  value  to  present  day  readers  of 
the  plays  who  do  not  know,  or  do  not  stop  to  consider,  that 
modern  editions  dififer  greatly,  and  in  important  particulars, 
from  the  original  editions,  both  spelling  and  grammar  having 
been  modified,  while  in  some  parts,  whole  paragraphs  of  the 
text  are  omitted  to  meet  the  ideas  of  what  the  particular  editor 
thought  the  author  should  have  said. 

Mr.  Marston,  in  theNineteenth  Century,  continues  an  argu- 
ment first  put  forth  in  the  Times,  and  further  illustrated  in  the 
Publishers'  Circular,  attempting  to  prove  that,  because  certain 
fragments  of  the  Iliad,  in  the  Bi-literal  Cypher,  deciphered  from 

*Even  present  day  London  writers  are  not  in  accord  in  the  use  of  "u," 
for  I  find  in  the  Times,  "font  of  type."  Mr.  Marston  and  others  write 
"fount." .  .Are  the  writings  of  "A  Correspondent"  in  the  Times  to  be  dis- 
credited for  following  the  American  method? 

15 


the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  of  1628,  are  similar  to  Pope's  ver- 
sion of  the  same  passages,  the  whole  long  story  comprising 
385  pages — about  300  of  which  relate  to  matters  entirely 
foreign  to  the  Iliad — must  be  a  conscious  fraud,  and  that  "bold 
lie"  is  the  key  to  the  whole  matter.  It  was  hardly  a  courteous 
expression,  and  I  have  every  confidence  that  Mr.  Marston  will, 
after  more  careful  investigation,  retract  it. 

Any  statcuicnt  that  I  copied  from  Pope,  or  from  any  source 
whatever,  the  matter  put  forth  as  deciphered  from  Bacon's 
zvorks,  is  false  in  every  particular. 

It  will  be  noted  that  Mr.  Marston  makes  no  attempt  to  prove 
the  cipher,  but  bases  his  convictions  regarding  the  lxx>k  upon 
this  one  point  of  similarity,  in  an  insignificant  portion  of  it, 
to  Pope's  translation  of  the  Iliad. 

As  it  chanced,  I  had  read  Pope  to  some  extent  in  the  rhetori- 
cal studies  of  my  school  days,  but  had  never  re-read  his  Homer 
until  Mr.  Marston  called  attention  to  it.  I  now  see  a  similarity 
in  some  expressions,  and  in  the  arrangement  of  names,  in  that 
portion  devoted  to  the  catalogue  of  the  ships.  Bacon's  direc- 
tions for  writing  out  the  Iliad  (by  the  word-cipher,  p.  170),  sug- 
gest that  at  that  time  he  had  not  made  as  full  preparation  for 
writing  out  the  catalogue  as  for  the  remainder  of  the  w^ork, 
and  this  seems  significant. 

I  do  not  find  any  striking  resemblances  in  the  other  parts, 
and,  as  I  stated  in  a  recent  communication  to  the  Times,  in 
an  examination  of  six  English  translations  and  one  Latin,  I 
found  that  each  might  with  equal  justice  be  considered  a  para- 
phrase of  Pope,  or  that  he  had  copied  his  predecessors.  Why, 
among  several  translations  of  the  same  Greek  text,  two  having 
both  resemblances  and  differences  should  be  classed  together, 
and  one  should  necessarily  be  a  copy  of  the  other,  is  not  clear  to 
me.  Knowing  that  Pope's  was  considered  the  least  correct  of 
several  of  the  English  translations,  yet,  perhaps,  the  best 
known  for  its  poetic  grace,  it  is  hardly  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  I  should  have  copied  his,  had  I  been  dependent  uix)n  any 
translation  for  the  deciphered  matter. 

Bacon  says  his  earliest  work  upon  the  Iliad  was  done  under 
instructors.  There  were  Latin  translations  extant  in  his  day, 
which  were  equally  accessible  to  Pope  a  century  later.    A  simi- 


larity  might  have  arisen  from  a  study  by  both  of  the  same 
Latin  text.  George  Chapman,  in  1598,  complained  vigorously 
that  some  one  had  charged  him  with  translating  his  Iliad  from 
the  Latin,  and  abusively  replied.  Theodore  Alois  Buckley,  in 
his  introduction  to  Pope's  Iliad,  says  he  was  "not  a  Grecian" 
and  that  he  doubtless  formed  his  poem  upon  Ogilby's  transla- 
tion, besides  consulting  friends  who  were  better  classical  schol- 
ars than  himself. 

But  all  this  is  of  small  importance,  for  it  is  inconclusive.  The 
question  is,  did  I  find  this  argument  of  the  Iliad  in  differing 
founts  of  Italic  type  in  the  text  of  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  f 

I  have  had  set  up  by  our  printers  from  my  MS.  two  sections 
of  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  from  which  were  taken  some 
passages  Mr.  Marston  quotes.  Modern  Italic  type  has  to  be 
used,  of  course,  and  the  two  founts  will  be  easily  distinguish- 
able. They  are  so  marked  as  unmistakably  to  indicate  how^  the 
differing  forms  are  used.  A  reference  to  an  original  copy  of 
the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  (1628),  which  may  be  seen  in  the 
British  Museum,  or  in  the  fine  library  of  Sir  Edwin  Durning- 
Lawrence,  will  quickly  show  whether  or  not  I  have  used  all 
the  Italic  letters  in  the  text,  whether  they  are  of  differing 
forms  as  marked  in  this,  whether  they  have  been  properly 
grouped,  and,  when  the  bi-literal  cipher  is  applied,  whether  they 
produce  the  results  I  have  printed.  If  the  types  are  of  differing 
forms,  are  properly  grouped,  and  produce,  by  the  bi-literal 
method,  the  results  printed,  the  question  of  identities  or  simili- 
tudes is  eliminated  from  the  discussion. 

I  am  aware  that  in  offering  this  evidence  in  this  way,  I  am 
at  a  serious  disadvantage.  The  true  classification  of  the 
types  was  determined  after  days  of  examination  and  compari- 
son of  hundreds  of  the  old  letters,  until  every  shade,  and  line, 
and  curve  of  those  I  marked  was  familiar,  and  as  thoroughly 
impressed  upon  my  memory  as  the  features  of  a  friend,  while 
to  those  making  this  comparison  the  letters  themselves  will  be 
new,  the  number  examined  probably  limited  to  those  in  a  few 
sentences,  and  by  eyes  entirely  unskilled  in  this  kind  of  exam- 
ination. 

Mr.  Marston  refers  to  my  use  of  an  edition  of  the  Anatomy 
of  Melancholy,  published  after  Bacon's  death,  as  evidence  that 


I  may  be  wrong.  The  edition  I  used  was  that  of  1628,  pub- 
lished by  Dr.  William  Rawley.  Concerning  this  and  Rawley's 
work,  I  had  found  in  deciphering  Sylva  Sylvarum,  the  follow- 
ing statement  from  Rawley  himself: 

"When,  however,  you  find  this  change  ....  where  I  begannc  th' 
worke,  you  shall  pause  awhile,  then  use  the  alphabet  as  it  is  heerein 
employ'd  and  as  explain'd  in  my  preceding  epistle.  It  will  thus  be  like  a 
new  alphabet  and  doubtlesse  will  bee  troublesome,  yet  can  bee  conn'd  while 
some  had  to  be  discover'd ;  but  in  respect  of  a  probable  familiaritie  with 
th'  worke,  and  the  severall  diverse  methods  employed  oft  by  his  lordship, 
this  may  by  no  meanes  be  requir'd,  since  th'  wit  that  could  penetrate  such 
mysteries  surely  needeth  no  setti'g  forth  and  enlarging  of  mine. 

Ere  the  whole  question  be  dropt,  however,  let  me  bid  you  go  on  to  my 
larger  and  fully  arranged  table  where  th'  storie,  or  epistle,  is  finish'd  as  it 
should  have  beene  had  his  lordship  lived  to  compleat  it,  since  my  part  was 
but  that  of  th'  hand,  and  I  did  write  only  that  portion  which  was  not  us'd 
at  th'  time.  All  this  was  duely  composed  and  written  out  by  his  hand,  and 
may  bee  cherish'd. 

From  his  penne,  too,  works  which  now  bear  th'  name  Burton  .... 
make  useful  those  portions  which  could  by  noe  means  bee  adapted  to 
dramaticall  writings.  If  you  do  not  use  them  as  you  decypher  th'  interiour 
epistles,  so  conceal'd,  your  story  shall  not  be  compleat. 

Th'  workes  are  in  three  divisio's,  entitled  Melancholy,  its  Anatomy. 
Additons  to  this  booke  have  beene  by  direction  of  Lord  Verullam,  himselfe, 
often  by  his  hand,  whilst  th'  interiour  letter,  carried  in  a  number  of 
ingenious  cyphers  mentioned  above,  is  from  his  pen,  and  is  the  same  in 
every  case  that  he  would  have  used  in  these  workes,  for  his  is,  in  verie  truth, 
worke  cut  short  by  th'  sickel  of  Death." 

This  edition  of  Burton  was  the  only  old  book  in  hand  at  the 
time  of  its  deciphering,  and,  having  found  the  cipher  in  it,  I 
continued  work  upon  it,  though  its  contents  were  a  serious  dis- 
appointment, and  I  have  since  greatly  regretted  the  time  and 
strength  spent  upon  what  was  of  so  little  value,  and  of  no 
interest  historically  as  relating  to  the  personality  of  Bacon  or 
the  times  in  which  he  lived.  Has  it  been  noted  by  Mr.  Marston, 
or  by  others  who  have  been  incredulous  about  this  book,  that 
Burton  in  the  appendix  to  his  will  does  not  include  the  Anatomy 
of  Melancholy  in  "such  books  as  are  written  with  mine  own 
hands"  ?  While  this  might  not  be  conclusive,  it  is,  in  the  light 
of  the  cipher  revelations,  a  very  significant  omission.  I  add  here 
that  the  first  edition  was  published  in  the  name  of  T.  Bright, 
under  the  title  of  A  Treatise  of  Melancholy,  in  1586,  when 
Burton  was  ten  years  old  and  Bacon  twenty-five.  As  the 
Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  it  was  issued  in  Rawley's  lifetime, 
in  several  editions  under  dates  of  1621,  1624,  1628,  1632,  1638, 
1651-2,  1660,  1676.  The  edition  of  1676  was  a  reprint  of 
an  earlier  edition  and  was  issued  after  Rawley's  death.  Bur- 
ton died  in  1640. 


One  of  the  passages  which  Mr.  Marston  quotes  in  proof  of 
a  paraphrase  of  Pope's  translation  is  the  expression,  "Hillie 
Eteon,  or  the  waterie  plains  of  Hyrie."  On  referring  to  my 
MS.  of  the  deciphering  from  Democritus  to  the  Reader,  p.  73, 
1.  24,  Anat.  of  Mel.,  I  find  the  phrase  was  extracted  from  the 
words,  which  are  here  set  up  in  two  founts  of  modern  type. 

No  one  should  pass  judgment  upon  the  Bi-literal  Cypher  who 
cannot,  at  sight,  assign  these  letters  to  their  respective  founts, 
for  it  is  much  less  difficult  in  these  diagrams  than  in  the  old 
books  themselves. 

FOUNTS  USED 


J  a  b  a  b 
[AAaa 

a  b  a  b 

a  b  ab 

a  b  ab 

a  b  a  b 

a  b  ab 

BBhb 

GCcc 

DDdd 

EEee 

FFff 

j  a  b  a  b 
\OGgg 

a    b  a  b 

a  babab 

a  b  a  b 

a  b  ab 

a    b    a  b 

HHhh 

Iliijj 

KKkk 

LLll 

M  Mmin 

f  a  b  a  b 

a  b  a  b 

a  b  a  b 

a  b  a  b 

a  b  a  b 

a  b  ab 

\NNnn 

OOoo 

PPpP 

QQqg 

BRrr 

S6"S5 

^  a  b  ab 

a  b  a  b  a 

b 

a    b  a  b 

a  b  a  b 

a  b  a  b 

a  b  a  b 

iTTti 

V Vvvu u 

WWww 

XXxx 

YYyy 

Z  Zzz 

Passage  to  be  deciphered. 
vitijs  Crimine  Nemo  caret  Nemo  sorts  sua  vivit  contentus  Nemo  in  amore 
sapii,   Nemo   bonus,  Nemo  sapiens,   Nemo,  est  ex  omni  parte  heatus  &c. 
Nicholas  Nemo,  No  body  quid  valeat  Nemo,  Nemo  referre  potest  vir  sapit 
qui  pauca  loquitur 

Grouping  in  fives  as  the  words  stand,  we  have: 
vitij    sCrim    ineNe    mocar    etNevt    osort    esuav    ivitc 

a  a  b  a  a     b  b  b  a  b       a  a  a  a   b        a  b  a  a  b      ab   a  a  b       a  aa  a  a      b  a  a  a  a       b  a  a  ba 
E  B  K  K  A  R  T 

on  ten    tus  Ne 

a  b  a  a  a      b  a  a  a  b 

I  s 

The  first  group  forms  the  biliteral  letter  e,  but  the  next  has 
two  'b  fount'  letters  at  the  commencement.  There  is  no  letter 
in  the  biliteral  alphabet  commencing  hh,  but  there  is  a  pos- 
sibility of  a  printer's  error,  and  it  is  necessary  to  examine  the 
following  groups.  Each  forms  a  bi-literal  letter,  but  they  are  a 
jumble  and  cannot  be  set  ofif,  or  divided  into  words. 

Another  attempt  is  necessary  to  pick  up  the  cipher  thread. 
Omitting  one  letter  at  the  beginning,  the  grouping  is : 
itij  s    Crimi    neNem    ocare     iNemo    sorte    suavi    vitco 

ab  a  ab      b  b  a  b  a      a  a   a  b   a        b  a  a  b  a       b   a    a  b  a      a  a  a  a  b      a  a  a  a  b      a  ab  a  a 
K  C  T  T  B  B  E 

ntent    us  Ne  m 

b  a  a  a  b      a  a   a   b  b 
S  D 

19 


Here,  again,  bb  comes  at  the  beginning  of  a  group,  but  going 
on  with  the  remainder  of  the  line  the  resulting  letters  are  again 
impossible  to  separate  into  any  intelligible  words. 
Omitting  another  letter  we  have: 

IxjsC     rim  in    cNevio    caret    iS'rwos    or  tea     xiarir     it  con 

b  a  a  b  b        b  a  b  a  a       a  a    b   a  b       a  a  b  a  b      a  n  b  a  a       a  a  a  b  a      ti  a  a  b  a       a  b  a  a  b 
UW  FFE  CCK 

tentu    sNetno    inatno    re  sap    ilNeni 

a  a  a  b  a      a  a    b  b  a       b  a  b     b  a      a  a  b  b  a      b  b    a  a  a 
O  Q  Y  Q 

Another  trial  commences  with  the  fourth  letter,  and  the 
groups  are : 
ijsCr    imine    Nemoc    areiN    enioso    rtesu    avivi    tcont 

a  a  b  b  b      a  b  a  a  ti       a   b  a   b  a      a  b  a  b  a        a  b  a  a  a      a  a  b  a  a      a  a  b  a  a      b  a  a  b  a 
HI  L  L  I  E  E  T 

en/tts    Nevioi   nam  or    esapi   iNcino   bonus   Nemos  ax>ien 

a  a  b  »  a      a   b  b  a  b      a  b   b   a  a      a  b  b  a  b     b  a  a  a  a     b  a  a  b  a      a  a  b  b  b     a  a  b  a  a 
EONO  RT  HE 

sXevio  estex    omnip    art  eh  eatus    &cNic   hoi  as    NemoN 

b    a  b  a  A    a  aa  a  a      b   a  a  b  a      a  a  b  a  a     b  a  a  a  a      a.  b  a  a  a     a  a  b  a  a      a  b    b    b  n 
W  A  T  E  R  I  E  P 

obody    quidv    aleat    NemoN    emore    ferre    potes     trirs 

a  b  a  b  a       a  s  a  a  a      a  b  a  a  a       a  b   b    ct   a        b   a  a  a  b      a  b  b  a  b      a  a  b  a  b      a  a  b  b  b 
LAI  N  S  O  F  H 

apit<i    uip  au    ca  lo q    uitur 

b  a  b  b  a       b  a.  a  a  a      a  b  a  a  a      a  a  b  a  a 
Y  B  I  E 

DECIPHERED  PASSAGE 

None  of  these  groups  begins  with  two  b's,  and  the  resulting 
letters  spell  out  the  line  quoted. 

hillieeteonorthewaterieplainsofhyrie 

Hillie  Eteon  or  the  waterie  plains  of  Hyrie. 

The  capitalization  and  punctuation  are  suggested  by  the 
rules  of  literary  construction.  There  are  four  possible  wrong 
groupings,  but  this  illustration  required  only  the  trial  of  three 
to  find  the  correct  one.  Should  there  be  obscure,  or  doubtful, 
letters  in  the  text  that  make  the  resulting  letters  of  a  group 
uncertain,  pass  the  whole  group  by  until  those  are  marked  which 
are  certain.  There  are  always  a  sufficient  number  of  &'s  to  indi- 
cate what  the  word  really  is  in  the  groups  preceding  and  follow- 
ing. In  the  resulting  phrase  above,  a  number  of  the  letters  might 
1>€  passed  over  as  abbreviations  and  yet  the  sense  could  hardly 
be  mistaken  even  in  this  short  and  disconnected  line,  while  with 
the  context  it  would  be  made  perfectly  clear. 


Mr.  Marston  quotes  another  passage  as  evidence  that  I  have 
"copied  Pope" : 

"Hee  was  th'  first  of  th'  Greekes  who  boldlie  sprang  to  th' 
shore  when  Troy  was  reach'd,  and  fell  beneath  a  Phrygian 
lance." 

Referring  to  my  MS.,  I  find  this  comes  from  page  38,  Anat. 
of  Mel.,  commencing  in  line  11.  I  have  had  this  printed,  also, 
and  grouped  for  the  resulting  bi-literal  letters  that  form  the 
deciphered  passage,  and  I  think  it  well  to  use  this  because  it 
illustrates  one  of  the  points  that  should  he  clearly  understood. 

Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  p.  38,  1.  11  (Edition  1628). 

Claudinus  Hippocrates  Paracelsus  Xon  est  rehictandum  cum  Deo  Her- 
cules Olympicks,  lupiter  lupiter  Hercules  Nil  iuvat  immensos  Cratero 
promittere  monies  we  must  sulmiit  oursehies  vnder  the  mighty  hand  of  God 
vna  eadentq  manus  vulnus  opemq  feret  Achilles  A  Digression  of  the  nature 
of  Spirits,  bad  Angels  or  Bivels,  and  hoio  they  cause  Melancholy. 
Postellus,  full  of  controversie  and  amhiguity  fatcor  excedere  vires  intentionis 
meae  Austin  finitum  de  infinito  non  potest  statuere  Acts  Sadducees  Galen 
J^ripateticks  Aristotle  Fomponatius  Scaliger  Dandimis  com  in  lib  de 

audin     usHip    pocra     tesPa     racel    susNo    nestr    eluct 

a  a  b  b  b       a  a    b  a  a       a  ti  b  a  a      b  a.  b    a  a       a  a  a  a  a      b  a  a  a  b       b  a  a  b  a      a  a  b  b  b 

andum    cumDe    oHerc    ulesO    lympi    ckslu    piter   /up  it 

a  a  b  a  b        a  b   a    a  a      b    a  a  a  a      b  a  a  a  b       b  a  a    b  a      a  b  b  a  b       u  ci  b  a  b      b  a  a  b  a 

erHer    cules    Niliu    vatim    men  so    sCrat    eropr    omitt 

a  a  b   b  b      a  a  b  b  a        b    a  a  a  a    a  a  b  a  a        a  a  b  a  a      a  b  a  a  b     a  a  b  a  a      b   a  a  a  b 

eremo     nte  szv    etnust    sub  mi    tours    elues     vnder    them  i 

b  a  b  a  a        a  a  b  b  b        a  b    b  a  b     a  a  a  a   b      a  b  b  a  b      a  b  a  b  a      a  a  a  b  b      a  b  a  b  a 

ghtyh   and  of   Godvn    aeade    mqman   usv^il    nusop   emg/e 

a  b  a  a  a     a  a  b  a  a       b  a  a  a  b      a  b  b  b  a      b    a  a  a  a      a  a  a  a  a     a  b  b  a  a      a  a  b  b  a 

ret  Ac     hi  He     sADig     res  si    onoft    hen  at    ureof   Spiri 

b  a  a  b  a       a  b  b  a  b       b  a    a  b  a.        a  a  b  b  b        b  a  a  a  b       a  a  b  b  b       a  b  b  a  b        b  a  a  a  a 

tsbad    Angel    sorDi    velsa    ndhow    theyc    auseM    elanc 

aa  b  a  a        b  a  b  a  a     aa  b   b    b      a  a  b  a  a      a  b  b  a  a       b  a  a  b  a      b  a  a  a  a         a  b  b  a  b 

holyP     osiel     lusfu     llofc     ontro     versi     eanda     mbigu 

i  a  b  b  a        b  ab  aa,       a  a  a  a  a      b  a  a  a  b       b  a  a  a  a       a  a  b  a  a      a  a  a  a  a        a  a  a  b   a 

xtyfa     tea  re     xcede     revir     esini     entio     nisme     aeAus 

a  a  b  b  b       a  a  a  b  b       a  a  a  a  a       a  b  b  a  a        a  a  a  b  b       a  a  b  a  b       a  a  b  a  a        a  b  a    b  a 

tin/i     nitum     deinf     inito     nonpo     tests    tatue    reAct 

a  b  a  b  a       a  a  a  a  b         a  a  b  a  a      a  b  b  a  a      a  a  b  a  a      a  a  a  a  a      b  a  a  b  a      a  a   b   b  b 

sSadd    ucees    Galen    Perip     ateti    cksAr    is  tot     lePom 

a  a  a  a  a      a  b  b  b  a      a  a  b  b  b       b  a-  a  a  a      b  a  b  b  a     a  b  b   a-  a       a  b  a  a  a      a  a  tt  a  a 

p  on  at    i  u  s  Sc    a  I  i  g  e    r  D  a  n  d    inus  c    ominl 

a  b  b  a  a     a  b  a  b  a      a  a  a  a  a      a   b   b  a  a      a  a  a  b  a      a   a  b  a  a 
DECIPHERED  PASSAGE 

Hee  was  th'  first  of  th'   Greekes  who  boldlie  sprang  to  th'  shore 
when  Troy  was  reach'd,  and  fell  beneath  a  Phrygian  lance. 


In  the  word  Phrygian,  the  fifth  group  which  should  make 
the  letter  g,  aabba,  really  is  n,  abbaa,  probably  Rawley's  mis- 
take, for  the  printer  should  not  answer  to  every  charge.  The 
two  &'s  stand  together,  as  they  should,  but  are  one  point  re- 
moved to  the  left. 

Every  page  of  the  book  was  worked  out  in  the  manner  illus- 
trated, every  Italic  letter  classified  and  the  result  set  down,  nor 
could  any  "imagination  or  predetermination"  change  the  re- 
sult. 

In  this  connection  as  few  of  your  readers  have  opportunity  to 
examine  the  old  books  I  will  reproduce  the  Cicero  Epistle  con- 
taining the  Spartan  dispatch  from  each  of  the  1623  and  1624 
editions  of  Dc  Augmcntis,  showing  the  differences  and  the 
errors  in  the  second  which  like  those  occurring  in  the  text  of 
the  old  books  have  to  be  corrected  if  the  work  goes  on. 


De  Aitgmentis  Scientiariim.     London  Edition,  162^. 

Plate  i. 


LiBtR     Stxrvs. 


Exemplum  (tAlphaheti  ^iliteranj^ 

if  J        ^  C        Q        ^  ^ 

Jl.iaad    auaaf  aaacj.  ac^abi aaraa  aciaS 

aaffa .  aapff '  abaaa   aucLCU)  abaSor  -afaM 

(K.       0       (£       Q,     <3b     S 

<r    V     w     0Q>    y     ^■ 

fnafii.  Dtiafp-  DoScui .  bob  ah.  bahpci .  baisf' 

Ncquc  Icuc  quiddam  obucc  hoc  modo.  pcrfcdloin 
eft.  Eccnimcxhoc  ipfopacct  Modus,  quo  ad  omncm 
Loci  Dillantiam,  per  Obicda,  qux  vd  Vifui  vdAudi  - 
cuifabijci  poninr,  Scnfa  Animi  profcrrc,  &  fignificarc 
liccac,  fimodoObicciailla,  duplicis  taiixuni  Diffcrcn- 
rix  capacia  funt ,  vduti  per  Campanati,  per  Buccinas, 
per  Flatnmcos,  per  Sonitus  Tormenrorum,  ^  alia  qu.c- 
cunquc.  Vcrumvt  Incccptuni  pcrrcquamur,  cum  ad 
Scribcn Jum  accingcns,  Cpiftoiam  Intcnorcm  in  Alpha- 
bduim  hoc  Diliteranum  folues.  Su  Epiftola  interior ; 

Exemplum  Solutionis, 

^      V.    g.     s. 

nJidPdP.        Dddbh.     (LdUPd.    .CLCLpaa. 

Prxfto 


2-9 


J 


23 


Plate  ii. 
180  T)e  Aiigmentis.Scientiarum-i 


Prxllo  fimul  (ic  aiiud  Alphahetum  Bifcmne,  >ii.i-iirum , 
quod  fingulas  Alphabcti  Communu  Litcras,  tara  Capua- 
Ics,  cjuamminorcs.duplici  Forma,  prouc  cuiquc  com- 
modum  (it,  cihiHcac. 

Exemplum  tAiphabeti  *Biformis, 

a.   l.a.p,  a.  p ,  do.  &,.  h.   a. p.  d.  pci.h. 

(t.    A  cf-  a>  p.  a.  p.  a,  b.  a.  p»  d.  b.  ct.  B. 

a,,  b.  c^.p.a..  p.<t.p.  (L.  f.d.p.  d.  p.  d.b.  o/* 
XS.TV.m  0.  e.c.o^^jj.  Q,^JM.  tj 

b.  €L.p.cL,p.  At.  a,.  P.d,f.d.  f.d.L^f. 
^      b.  d.b.  <t,  f,  cc.b.  d,f,a.P.iuf.ctJ» 


Plate  iii. 

{  JLiberSextvs. 

Tumd'jmum  Epiftola;  In  tenon, lam  factx  B/fncrLitx^ 
Epillolam  E:i.tcnorem  Biformem^  iircratlm  acconuno- 
dibis,  &  poftca  Jcfcnbes.  Sic  Ep.llola  Exrcnor; 
Manere  tc  ijolo  dorurc  '-uencro. 

Exemplum  tt/fccommodatwnls, 

<F       V      §      (F. 

c  ab  CLD.D '  dd  b  S dd  o  D  a  aa.  d  ad. 
jJoMJlcn     tC'VCrio    diXllCO    tCTitfD- 


281 


Appofuimus  ctiam  Exemplum  aliudlargiusciufdem 
Ciphrar , ScribcndiOmnia per  Omnia. 

Epiftola  Interior,  ad  quam  delegi- 

Xtius  Epiftolam  Spartanam^  miflatn 
oliin  in  Scyralc. 


lerdit^u  J\€^ .  Jllinaar 


nu  cecmtJmfiks- 
tsartunt  Jteam.  nine  nos  txiricarcmmc 
hic  diuiiiu  mancre  f^os^umtuf . 


Epiftola  Exterior,  fumpta  ex  Spjiola 

Prima Ciccronu^in  qn^EpifioIa  Spar- 

tana  inuotuicur. 

Go 


25 


Plate  iv. 


UJ^O"  omm  enicuf,  dcvotixutidrsJbt  cmatc; 

{nKLm-  scLtishuM  •  J^n^  est  attm  maaniz 
tudotucnim  crjuimt  mcritorum/i^i-piim^ 
din  fiL\  nislftTjictd  rt^  dt  mc  iwn  omatucsz 
tt^  ego,  djnuL  nan  idem  vn  tjui  auua  tmcic^ 
-pitdTTi  TTviizcssi  (KzmnftpiittTt .  Jnc(VCLz 

a^ttkvic^(inin' m;wguiJtr.  !^c4itut 
^cr  cosdtm  cttdihre^.p^tr  avufs^  ccatufiPAOJSs^ 

qui  Vclmi^axii'bcLuci  sunt  omnu.  dd^Bm^tz 
viiin. rem dtfcmvoiuTit',  ScnMu/^^^z 
^i^ms-  cdumrwim^ndnf^limmt^SidnuUL 

UnoLnlva^  \^mmsu\^;pat{^rgh^ 

mxiidui  com.tTWtLt,  '^c . 


De  Augmentis  Scientiarum.     Paris  Edition,  1624. 

306  Dcjiugmentii  Sciemiarum. 

tumtnodo  Litcras  fojuantur  ,.-  per  Tranfpofitioncm 
.carum.  Nam  Tranfpofitio  duamm  Licerarum  j  per 
Locprquinquc,  Differcntiistriginca  duabus,  multo 
nragis  viginti  quatuor  (  qui  dfl:  Numerus  Jlphx' 
Imapud  nos )  lufficiet.  Huius  jdlfhahcti  Excmpluiu 
tale  eft. 


Jlaaaci, .  aaaap.  aacwaMaabb.aapaa.  aaba^^ 

^£     o      ^     (h    ^    S 

cSSaa.avDap  .upppd,  .appfpSaaadJaaap- 
^aapa.pa<m^paSaa  JapapJap^aJaSSf 

Nequc  Icucquiddam  obiter  hoc  jnodo  perfedunt 
cftiEtetiim  ex  hoc  ipfopacet  Modus ,  quo  ad  orTincni 
LociDiftantiam,per  Obicfta>qu2evclVifui,vclAudi- 
tui  fubijci  poflmt^Scnfa  Animi  proferre,  &  fignificarc 
liceat :  fi  modo  Obieda  illa,duphcis  tantum  DifFcrcn* 
ti^capacialiint,  veluriperCampanas  ,  per  Buccinas> 
perPlammeos,pet  SonicusTormentorum,&  alia  qu?^ 
cunque.  Verumvtlncoeptumperfequamur^cum  ad 
Scribendumaccingoris ,  Epiftolamintcriorem  \xi>^lr 
ik^J^etamhoc'^iluermHm  (blues.  Sit  cpiftolainteriori. 


ExciTiplunl  Solutionis. 

Jidl)d*  paaPD-    d^bpci*    ddpcid. 

Pracfto  finiul  tit  :Amd  J phabetum  Biforme,  nirairunv 
quod  fingulas  Jlpbaheti  Communis  Literas ,  tarn  Capi- 
taJcs.quammiriores^duplici  Forma,  proutcuiqj  com- 
modam/it  cxhibear. 

Exemplum  Alpnaleti'&iformis^ 

(Pr  //-^/^     9,,       ^ 

adibCLP.p  CUP  P'dCL  b  S.a  a.a..b  ticb 
Jll(tnerz  ie  ^crlo    ciantc  ^oen^rs 

Turn  demum  Epiftolac  Interiori^  iam  fadx  Bilitcrar§, 
Epiftolam  Extcnorcm  Biformemy  literatim  accommo-^ 
dabis,&:pofteadefcribes.  Sit  Epiftola  Extcriorj 
Mdneve  te  njolo  donee  ycfiero* 
Exemplum  Accommoda^tionis, 

alUd.  avUt) .  Ma.aHpp.paa(ia^Sa4(iip 
^     ^      rW      OC      y      ^ 

laaiciiaabb.  Iopoa.  iai(x\>.  bMaJMb, 

Appofuimus  ctiam  Exemplum  aliud  largius  eiuC 
dem  Ciphrx ,  Scrihendi  Omnia  per  Omnia, 
Epiftola  Interior ,  ad  quam  delegimus  Epiflolam  7- 
S^artanam  y  miflam  olimin  Scytalc, 
Vcrdiu  "Aj^-  QplfCindarm  cecidk  (^^tlites  eju- 
riunP.  y^^qut  hincnos  extricarCy  neque 
hicdmtms  m^ncrefojfumti^. 


28 


jo8  D  e  lAugmmii  Sctemlarum, 

a.    p. a* p.  a- p^*cL^p*(^^^^<irP.a,.  p  a.b. 

if.0:i.iX^£(£Cf.lX'MM. 

X£n.ii.o.  B.cAif.^.  Q^n-^ 

p  .^'A^./.^A tf#  P'd^^^^a.  p.ap^ap 
^'   /.  a^.A  a^^  p.  a^.p*  (L^kah^ap^aS. 


n 


'^.»-SC.9&.oc.x 


EpiftoIaExtenor ^  fumpta ex Epiftola Pr/w^  Cfcerofn^t 
in  q[ua  EpfiolaSp^nanamuolunux^ 


29 


Liber  ScxtSf.  305) 


Jitzri:  saiufroiocmntfur.jMitp.iimt- 
cimntsa.iufacio-  ^anUtsienimmyni-. 
Udo  iiwrnw.  erf,  mc  msnivmniMj''^]^ 
m  ill,  nuljtrfTcUrc,  /tmtnon  ccnjms^ 

titimumifn  esst  aatSam  fwtm  .JncdU- 

Vetecsc/sm  creJiitfres  veraucs,  cmniuadn 

ijui  Pmnf,jm-pa>  r<sMmniomw5  ad^cuw^z 
iuu  rem  dmrti  volunf.  Oenahs  ^/i= 

03   iij 


30 


In  the  1624  edition  the  second  \i  in  ofEcio  is  changed  by  the 
lawoftied  letters  ;the  second  u  in  nunquam  has  position  or  angle 
of  inclination,  to  make  it  an  'a  fount'  letter ;  q  in  conquiesti  is 
from  the  wrong  fount,  and  the  ii  has  features  of  both  founts  but 
is  clear  in  one  distinctive  difference — the  width  at  the  top;  the 
q  in  quia  is  reversed  by  a  mark ;  the  a's  in  the  first  causa  are 
formed  like  'h  fount'  letters  but  are  taller,;  the  q  of  quos  is  from 
the  wrong  fount ;  the  second  a  in  aderas  is  reversed  being  a  tied 
letter ;  /  in  velint  is  from  the  wrong  fount,  also  the  p  of  parati, 
the  /  of  calumniam  and  the  /  of  religione. 

In  line  twelve  'pauci  sunt'  in  1623  ed.  is  'parati  sunt'  in  the 
1624  ed.  The  correct  grouping  is  ntqui  velin  tquip  ratis  untom 
nesad,  the  first  a  in  'parati'  must  be  omitted  to  read  diutius 
according  to  the  Spartan  dispatch.  Otherwise  the  groups 
would  be  arati  sunto  mnesa.  The  ni  and  n  are  both  'b  fount,' 
thus  bringing  two  b's  at  the  beginning  of  this  last  group,  indi- 
cating at  once  a  mistake  for  no  letter  in  the  bi-literal  alphabet 
begins  with  two  b's  and  wherever  encountered  may  be  known  to 
indicate  either  a  wrong  fount  letter  or  a  wrong  grouping.  It  is 
one  of  the  guards  against  error.  To'  continue  the  groups  after 
the  one  last  given  several  would  be  found  tO'  commence  with  bb, 
and  the  resulting  letters  would  not  "read." 

Here,  too,  is  an  example  of  diphthongs,  digraphs,  and  double 
letters,  which  are  troublesome  to  "A  Correspondent."  The 
diphthong  se  of  "cseteris,"  the  digraph  ct  in  perfectare,  and  the 
double  ^'s  and  pp's  are  shown  as  separate  letters  and  must  be 
treated  as  such  in  deciphering  Italics. 

A  very  important  feature,  that  most  seem  to  forget,  is  that 
ciphers  are  made  to  hide  things,  not  to  make  them  plain  or 
easy  to  decipher.  They  are  constructed  to  be  misleading,  mys- 
terious, and  purposely  made  difficult  except  to  those  possessing 
the  key.  Seekers  after  knowledge  through  them  must  not 
abandon  the  hunt,  upon  encountering  the  first  difficulty,  im- 
probability, inaccuracy,  or  stumbling  block  set  for  their  confu- 
sion. 

Were  the  confirmation  of  this  cipher  of  importance  to  the 
government — a  matter  of  life  or  death  to  an  official,  or  likely 
to  concern  the  strategic  movement  of  an  army — the  energies  of 
many  minds  would  be  centered  upon  deciphering  it.     But  it 


would  appear  from  the  writings  we  have  recently  seen,  the 
greatest  effort  is  to  prevent  its  development  or  acceptance — 
that  the  ideas  of  a  lifetime  be  not  overturned,  and  the  satisfac- 
tion remain  that  the  individual  has  already  compassed  the  limits 
of  information.  It  is  so  much  pleasanter  to  be  satisfied 
with  what  we  have  than  to  delve  for  things  we  do  not  want  to 
know. 

Personally,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  vital  importance  to  me 
whether  the  cipher  is  accepted  or  not.  I  have  put  my  best  efforts 
into  its  discovery  and  elucidation.  I  know  that  I  have  accomp- 
lished what  others  have  failed  to  do,  and  I  can  look  on  with 
equanimity  as  the  world  wrestles  with  the  evidences,  and  finally 
comes,  as  it  will,  to  the  conclusion  I  have  reached. 

The  impetus  given  the  movement  by  this  discussion  will 
result  in  important  research,  and  other  discoveries  concerning 
Bacon  that  I  am  unable  to  make,  will,  with  the  light  that  has 
now  been  thrown  upon  the  subject,  confirm  what  has  been  set 
forth  and  much  more  besides.  As  I  write,  an  article  in 
Baconiana  makes  a  suggestion  which  should  be  acted  upon  at 
once: 

"Our  attention  has  also  been  called  to  a  sealed  hag  of  papers 
at  the  Record  office.  It  was,  it  is  said,  sealed  at  the  death  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  to  be  opened  only  by  joint  consent  of  the 
reigning  Sovereign,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  Lord 
Chancellor.  Is  not  the  time  come  when  we  may  fitly  memorial- 
ize His  Majesty,  King  Edward,  to  command  or  sanction  the 
opening  and  revelation  ?" 


32 


REPLY  TO  SIR  HENRY  IRVING. 

THE  PRINCETON  ADDRESS. 

In  an  address  at  Princeton  on  the  Shakespeare-Bacon  con- 
troversy, Sir  Henry  Irving  did  me  the  honor  of  mention, 
although  in  rather  a  disparaging  way,  as  "constructing  a  won- 
derful cipher  out  of  the  higgledy-piggledy  lettering"  of  the 
First  Folio  and  other  Elizabethan  books  in  which  irregular 
lettering  is  found. 

As  comparatively  few  will  recognize  from  the  terms  Sir 
Henry  used,  the  actual  meaning  of  this  characterization  of  the 
peculiar  printing,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  he  refers  to  the  two 
or  more  forms  of  Italic  letters  the  printers  of  that  day  employed 
in  the  same  text  of  many  books,  and  that  I  have  discovered 
that  their  use  in  a  large  number  was  for  the  purpose  of  em- 
bodying the  biliteral  cipher  invented  by  Bacon.  Much  of  this 
work  has  been  deciphered  and  published  as  the  Bi-literal 
Cypher  of  Francis  Bacon,  and  no  doubt  the  recent  discussion 
of  this  book  in  England, — and  the  echoes,  on  this  side,  of  the 
controversy, — was  the  suggestion,  at  least,  of  the  theme  of  the 
Princeton  address. 

Sir  Henry  points  out  that  by  "this  wondrous  cipher  Bacon 
is  alleged  to  have  written  in  addition  to  Shakespeare  and 
Greene,  the  works  of  Ben  Jonson  and  Marlowe,  Spenser's 
Faerie  Queene  and  Burton's  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,"  but 
says  "its  chief  business  is  to  stagger  us  with  the  revelation 
that  Bacon  was  the  'legitimate  son  of  Queen  Elizabeth.'  " 

It  is  not  my  purpose  at  this  time  to  discourse  upon  the  dis- 
coveries I  have  made,  which,  among  a  great  deal  else  equally 
important,  most  certainly  reveal  all  that  Sir  Henry  mentions — 
except  that  Bacon  lays  no  claim  to  the  greater  part  of  Ben 
Jonson's  works — but  I  wish  to  throw  additional  light  upon  cer- 
tain passages  in  the  address  that  are  presented  as  facts  irrec- 
oncilable with  the  cipher  disclosures.  These  "facts"  are  sup- 
posed to  show  that  it  is  not  in  the  realm  of  possibility  that 
Bacon  could  have  written  the  plays. 

33 


In  the  opening  sentences,  Sir  Henry  refers  to  some  words 
of  his  own  used  as  a  fitting  conclusion  to  a  treatise  on  the 
Bacon-Shakcspeare  Question  by  Judge  Allen  of  Boston.  I 
quote:  "When  the  Baconians  can  show  that  Ben  Jonson  was 
either  a  fool  or  a  knave,  or  that  the  whole  world  of  players  and 
playwrights  at  that  time  was  in  a  conspiracy  to  palm  off  on 
the  ages  the  most  astounding  cheat  in  history,  they  will  be 
worthy  of  serious  attention." 

If  Sir  Henry  Irving  to-day  appeared  in  a  new  play, 
and  at  the  same  time  claimed  that  it  was  the  work  of  his  hand, 
it  would  not,  probably,  require  "a  conspiracy  of  the  whole 
world  of  players  and  playwrights  to  palm  it  off"  on  the  present 
age  to  say  nothing  of  the  future. 

The  writers  who  refer  so  confidently  to  Ben  Jonson's  praise 

of  Shakespeare,  do  not  observe  that  he  says: 

"he  seemes  to  shake  a  Lance, 

As  brandisht  at  the  eyes  of  Ignorance." 

They  are  blind,  also,  to  the  significance  of  the  lines : 

"From  thence  to  Honour  thee,  I  would  not  seeke 
For  names ;  but  call  forth  thund'ring  ^schilus, 

Euripides,  and  Sophocles  to  us, 
Paccuvius,  Accius,  him  of  Cordova  dead. 

To  life  againe,  to  heare  thy  Buskin  tread. 
And  shake  a  Stage :    Or,  when  thy  Sockes  were  on, 

Leave  thee  alone  for  the  comparison 
Of  all,  that  insolent  Greece,  or  haughtie  Rome 

Sent  forth,  or  since  did  from  their  ashes  come. 

The  'buskin'  signified  tragedy,  'socks'  comedy,  and  it  was 
as  an  actor,  not  as  an  author,  that  Jonson  would  compare 
Shakespeare  with  both  ancient  and  modern  Greece  and  Rome. 
His  name  was  in  the  list  of  actors  of  some  of  Jonson's  plays, 
as  well  as  of  "Shakespeare's."  Beeston  says,  "he  did  act  exceed- 
ingly well,"  and  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Sidney  Lee's  Sluike- 
speare  in  Oral  Tradition  for  a  revival  of  "the  exciting  discov- 
ery some  actors  made"  of  Shakespeare's  brother  Gilbert  whose 
memory  "only  enabled  him  to  recall  his  brother's  performance 
of  Adam  in  his(  ?)  comedy  of  As  yon  like  it." 

It  is  true  that  Shakespeare  was  lauded  for  the  literary  work 
supposed  to  be  his,  yet  in  the  article  just  cited  we  observe  also 
that  "Shakespeare's  extraordinary  rapidity  of  composition  was 
an  especially  frequent  topic  of  contemporary  debate."  There 
were  men  even  then  who  realized  that  these  things  were  not 
possible  to  their  Shakespeare. 

34 


In  the  Advancement  of  Learning  we  read;  "He  is  the 
greater  and  deeper  pollitique,  that  can  make  other  men  the 
Instruments  of  his  will  and  endes,  and  yet  never  acquaint  them 
with  his  purpose :  So  that  they  shall  doe  it,  and  yet  not  know 
what  they  doe,  then  hee  that  imparteth  his  meaning  to  those 
he  employeth."    B.  2.,  ist  p.  33. 

This  would  suggest  that  Bacon  did  not  impart  his  pur- 
poses to  his  "masques,"  Ignorant  of  the  fact  that  Shake- 
speare's name  was  being  employed  as  was  his  own,  Greene 
exclaimed,  "An  upstart  crow  beautified  with  our  feathers !" 
The  similarity  of  expression  was  apparent  to  him,  as  to  stu- 
dents of  the  present  day,  and  the  charge  of  plagiarism  was 
very  natural. 

Sir  Henry  points  out  that  although  Bacon  "was  the  legiti- 
mate son  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  his  unnatural  mother  showed  not 
the  smallest  desire  to  advance  his  interests."  But  what  shall 
be  said  of  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon's  failure  to  make  provision  for 
Francis  ?  The  cipher  history  makes  that  point  quite  clear.  He 
made  provision  for  his  own  sons,  and  in  a  certain  sense  Eliza- 
beth provided  for  hers,  although  she  did  not  give  them  public 
recognition  nor  show  the  elder  any  marked  favor. 

Sir  Henry  asks :  "What  did  Bacon  know  about  the  stage?" 
What  did  he  not  know  about  the  stage?  A  few  random  quo- 
tations will  best  answer  these  questions : 

"In  the  plays  of  this  philosophical  theatre  you  may  observe 
the  same  thing  which  is  found  in  the  theatre  of  the  poets,  that 
stories  invented  for  the  stage  are  more  compact  and  elegant, 
and  more  as  one  would  wish  them  to  be,  than  true  stories  out 
of  history."    Nov.  Or.,  p.  90. 

"Representative  [poetry]  is  as  a  visible  history,  and  is  an 
image  of  actions  as  if  they  were  present,  as  history  is  of  actions 
in  nature  as  they  are  (that  is)  past."    Adv.  of  L.,  p.  204. 

"In  whose  time  also  began  that  great  alteration  in  the  state 
ecclesiastical,  cm  action  which  seldom  cometh  upon  the  stage." 
Adv.  of  L.,  p.  193. 

"As  if  he  were  conscient  to  himself  that  he  had  played  his 
part  zuell  upon  the  stage."    Adv.  of  L.,  p.  362. 

"But  it  is  not  good  to  stay  too  long  in  the  theatre."  Adv. 
of  L.,  p.  206. 


"But  men  must  know,  that  in  this  tJieatre  of  man's  life  it  is 
reserved  only  for  God  and  the  angels  to  be  lookers  on."  De 
Aug.,  p.  198. 

"As  it  is  used  in  some  Comedies  of  Errors,  wherein  the  mis- 
tress and  the  maid  change  habits.  Adv.  of  L.,  p.  315,  De 
Aug.,  p.  199. 

"What  more  unseemly  than  to  be  always  playing  a  part?" 
Adv.  of  L.,  p.  349- 

"And  then  what  is  more  uncomely  than  to  bring  the  man- 
ners of  the  stage  into  the  business  of  life?''     De  Aug.,  p.  235. 

"Besides  it  is  unseemly  for  judicial  proceedings  to  borrow 
anything  from  the  stage."     De  Aug.,  p.  340. 

"But  the  best  provision  and  material  for  this  treatise  is  to 
be  gained  from  the  wiser  sort  of  historians,  not  only  from  the 
commemorations  which  they  commonly  add  on  recording  the 
deaths  of  illustrious  persons,  but  much  more  from  the  entire 
body  of  history  as  often  as  such  a  person  enters  upon  the  stage; 
for  a  character  so  worked  into  the  narrative  gives  a  better  idea 
of  the  man,  than  any  formal  criticism  and  review  can."  Dc 
Aug.,  p.  217. 

"This  was  one  of  the  longest  plays  of  that  kind  that  hath 
been  in  memory."     History  of  Henry  the  Seventh,  p.  304. 

"Therefore  now  like  the  end  of  a  play,  a  great  number  came 
upon  the  stage  at  once."  History  of  Henry  the  Seventh,  p.  287. 

"But  from  his  first  appearance  upon  the  stage."  H.  VH., 
p.  291. 

"He  had  contrived  with  himself  a  vast  and  tragical  plot." 
H.  VH.,  p.  302. 

"As  to  the  stage,  love  is  ever  matter  of  comedies  and  now 
and  then  of  tragedies."     Essays,  p.  95. 

The  stage  and  stage  plays  were  constantly  in  Bacon's  mind. 
The  point  is  not  well  taken  that  Bacon  could  not  have  written 
the  plays  from  lack  of  familiarity  with  the  stage,  from  lack  of 
the  old  plays  that  were  the  basis  of  some,  from  the  impossibility 
of  altering  the  plays  extant,  or  of  collaborating  with  other 
writers  in  the  historical  dramas.  Bacon  had  access  to  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men,  to  all  varieties  of  literature,  but  the 
proofs  of  collaboration  are  entirely  wanting. 

Again,  Sir  Henry  states:  "His  [Shakespeare's]  knowl- 
edge of  law  was  supposed  to  be  wonderful  by  Lord  Campbell 
but  does  not  commend  itself  to  Judge  Allen." 

36 


This  is  the  opinion  of  one  man  opposed  to  that  of  another. 
Warner,  in  speaking  of  the  chorus  in  Act  i.,  Sc.  ii.,  H.  V.,  says : 
"It  reads  Hke  the  result  of  a  lawyer's  struggle  to  embalm  his 
brief  in  blank  verse." 

A  little  further  on  in  Sir  Henry's  speech  we  find  an  allusion 
to  'Shakespeare's  careless  notions  about  law,  geography,  and 
historical  accuracy.' 

When  the  great  German  Schlegel  wrote,  "I  undertake  to 
prove  that  Shakespeare's  anachronisms  are  for  the  most  part 
committed  purposely  and  after  great  consideration,"  the  truism 
was  more  far-reaching  than  he  knew.  The  double  purpose  that 
many  lines  and  often  whole  passages  serve,  was  the  real  cause 
of  the  anachronisms,  and  want  of  historical  accuracy.  In 
Richard  the  Second  the  pathetic  scene  of  the  queen's  interview 
with  the  dethroned  Richard  as  he  is  being  led  to  the  Tower, 
is  "both  historically  inaccurate  and  psychologically  impossible. 
The  king  and  queen  did  not  meet  again  at  all  after  their  parting 
when  Richard  set  out  for  Ireland,  and  Queen  Isabel  was  a 
child." — Warnei''s  Hist.  Nearly  the  entire  scene  is  a  part  of 
the  hidden  cipher  drama,  The  White  Rose  of  Britain,  and  is  the 
parting  of  the  pretended  Richard,  Duke  of  York, — Warbeck, 
named  by  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy  the  White  Rose, — from  his 
faithful  wife,  Katharine,  to  whom  the  title  was  afterward 
given. 

"Qu.     This  way  the  King  wil]  come :  this  is  the  way 

To  Julius  Csesar's  ill-erected  Tower : 

To  whose  flint  bosome,  my  condemned  Lord 

Is  doom'd  a  Prisoner,  by  prowd 

Here  let  us  rest,  if  this  rebellious  earth 

Have  any  resting  for  her  true  King's  Queene. 

ENTER    RICHARD    AND    GUARD. 

But  soft,  but  see,  or  rather  do  not  see 
My  fair  Rose  wither :    yet  look  up ;  behold. 
That  you  in  pittie  may  dissolve  to  dew, 
And  wash  him  fresh  again  in  true-love  Teares. 
Ah  thou,  the  Modell  where  old  Troy  did  stand. 
Thou  Mappe  of  Honor,  thou  King  Richard's  Tombe, 
And  not  King  Richard :  thou  most  beauteous  Inne, 
Why  should  hard-favor'd  Griefe  be  lodged  in  thee, 
When  Triumph  is  become  an  ale-house  guest? 

Rich.    Joyne  not  with  griefe  faire  Woman,  do  not  so. 
To  make  my  end  too  sudden :  learne  good  Soule, 
To  thinke  our  former  State  a  happie  Dreame, 
From  which  awak'd,  the  truth  of  what  we  are, 
Shewes  us  but  this.    I  am  sworne  Brother  (Sweet) 
To  grim   Necessitie ;  and  hee  and  I 
Will  keepe  a  League  till  Death,"  etc. — R.  II.,  Act,  v.,  Sc.  i. 

37 


Again  in  Henry  the  Sixth,  see  all  the  conversation  regard- 
ing the  marriage  of  Edward  the  Fourth:  A  note  on  the 
play  says  "nothing  is  historically  certain  concerning  the  episode 
except  that  Edward  married  the  Lady  Elizabeth  Grey."  It  is  a 
part  of  another  cipher  drama,  the  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn, 
where  some  were  bold  enough  to  challenge  the  right  of  the  mar- 
riage of  Henry  the  Eighth  with  the  beautiful  Anne  Boleyn  : 

"Lady.     My  lords,  before  it  pleas'd  his  Majestic 
To  rayse  my  State  to  Title  of  a  Queene, 
Doe  me  but  right,  and  you  must  all  confesse, 
That  I  was  not  ignoble  of  Descent,  ' 

And  meaner  than  mysclfe  have  had  like  fortune. 
But  as  this  Title  honors  me  and  mine, 
So  your  dislikes,  to  whom  I  would  be  pleasing, 
Doth  cloud  my  joyes  with  danger,  and  with  sorrow. 

King.    My  Love,  forbeare  to  fawne  upon  their  frovvnes: 
What  danger,  or  what  sorrow  can  befall  thee, 

So  long  as is  thy  constant  friend. 

And  their  true  Soveraigne,  whom  they  must  obey? 
Nay,  whom  they  shall  obey,  and  love  thee  too, 
Unlesse  they  seeke  for  hatred  at  my  hands: 
Which  if  they  doe,  yet  will  I  keep  thee  safe, 
And  they  shall  feele  the  vengeance  of  my  wrath." 

H.  VI.,  Act  iv.,  Sc.  i. 

Critics  trace  the  marked  anti-papal  spirit  of  King  John  to 

'Henry  the  Eighth's  revolt  from  the  Roman  obedience,'  and 

these  passages  are  indeed  a  part  of  Henry's  speech,  in  the 

Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn: 

"What  earthie  name  to   Interrogatories 

Can  tast  the  free  breath  of  a  sacred  King?  j 

But  as  we,  under  heaven  are  supreame  head, 

So  under  him  that  great  supremacy 

Where  we  doe  reigne,  we  will  alone  uphold 

Without  th'  assistance  of  a  mortall  hand : 

For  he  that  holds  his  Kingdome,  holds  the  law." 

And  again : 

"Yet  I  alone,  alone  doe  me  oppose 

Against  the  Pope,  and  count  his  friends  my  foes." 

K.  J.,  Act  iii.,  Sc.  i. 

The  following  lines  are  a  part  of  the  cipher  poem,  the 
Spanish  Armada: 

"So  by  a  roaring  Tempest  on  the  flood, 

A  whole  Armado  of  convicted  saile 

Is  scattered  and  dis-joyn'd  from  fellowship." 

K.  J.,  Act  iii.,  Sc.  iii. 

A  part  of  Cranmer's  prophetic  speech  at  Elizabeth's  chris- 
tening has  reference  to  Francis  himself: 

38 


"..  ■  "So  shall  she  leave  her  Blessednesse  to  One 

(When  Heaven  shall  call  her  from  this  clowd  of  darkncs) 
Who,  from  the  sacred  Ashes  of  her  Honour 
Shall  Star-like  rise,  as  great  in  fame  as  she  was, 
And  so  stand  fix'd."— //.  VIII.,  Act  v.,  Sc.  iv. 

The  mention  of  quoting  Marlowe  sometimes  with  acknowl- 
edgment— sometimes  omitting  the  acknowledgment — shows 
that  Sir  Henry  does  not  concede  that  the  plays  of  Marlowe 
were  from  the  same  pen  as  the  plays  of  Shakespeare,  but  he 
admits  that  'Marlowe  was  Shakespeare's  model  in  several 
ways,'  and  in  making  this  admission  he  reveals  a  recognition  of 
similarity  that  he  can  in  no  way  account  for  until  he  accepts  the 
very  natural  'cause  of  this  effect'  made  known  in  the  cipher. 

Next  we  find :  "Shakespeare  had  an  immeasurable  recep- 
tivity of  all  that  concerned  human  character." 

This  is,  of  course,  an  inference  drawn  from  the  plays.  It  is 
well  known  to  all  close  students  of  that  marvelous  literature 
that  its  author  discerned  every  type  of  human  character,  un- 
derstood the  influence  of  environment  upon  men  and  women, 
and  had  a  wide  and  deep  knowledge  of  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
in  different  ages  and  in  many  countries.  We  do  not  difTer  in 
opinion  there,  but  Sir  Henry  speaks  of  the  author  by  his 
pseudonym,  I  by  the  name  his  foster  father  gave  him. 

Tennyson  is  quoted  to  show  Bacon's  opinion  of  love :  "The 
philosopher  who  in  his  essay  on  'Love'  described  it  as  a  'weak 
passion'  fit  only  for  stage  comedies,  and  deplored  and  despised 
its  influence  over  the  world's  noted  men,  could  never  have  writ- 
ten 'Romeo  and  Juliet'." 

In  the  Advancement  of  Learning,  Bacon  says:  "Love 
teacheth  a  man  to  carry  himself to  prize  and  govern  him- 
self  onely  Love  doth  exalt  the  mind  and  neverthelesse  at 

the  same  instant  doth  settle  and  compose  it."  The  play  of 
Romeo  and  Juliet  was  the  story  of  the  love  of  Bacon's  youth 
and  early  manhood,  and  the  score  of  years  between  the  time 
of  writing  the  play  and  publishing  the  essay  had  filled  his  life 
with  other  things,  yet  those  who  have  read  the  cipher  story 
know  that  an  inner  chamber  of  his  heart  enshrined  a  memory 
of  Marguerite. 

I  quote  again  from  the  address  :  "Still  more  noteworthy  is 
the  absence  of  any  plausible  excuse  for  Bacon's  fond  preserva- 
tion of  his  worthless  rhymes  and  his  neglect  of  the  master- 
pieces that  went  by  Shakespeare's  name.  He  gave  the  most 
minute  directions  for  the  publication  of  his  literary  remains. 

39 


His  secretary,  Dr.  Rawley.  was  entrusted  with  this  responsi- 
bility and  faithfully  discharged  it." 

Bacon's  MSS.  were  given  to  two  literary  executors,  not  to 
Rawley  alone,  and  a  part  was  taken  to  Holland.  Rawley  con- 
tinued the  publication  of  Bacon's  works  after  1626,  publishing 
all  those  that  were  left  in  his  care.  Without  these,  a  large 
nutnber  of  the  interior  works  would  have  been  incomplete  and 
the  work  in  the  word-cipher  interrupted. 

Sir  Henry's  assertion,  "nothing  could  be  easier  than  to 
make  an  equally  impressive  cipher  which  would  show  that  Dar- 
win wrote  Tennyson,"  etc.,  needs  no  refutation.  Bacon  does 
not  say  that  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  "make"  the  biliteral 
cipher. 

Again  we  find :  "It  would  be  more  to  the  purpose  if  the 
Baconians  would  tell  us  why  on  earth  Bacon  could  not  let  the 
world  know  in  his  lifetime  that  he  had  written  Shakespeare." 

The  principal  reason  was  because  the  history  of  his  life 
was  largely  given  in  those  plays,  not  alone  in  the  biliteral,  but 
in  the  word-cipher,  and  the  revelation  of  that  in  the  lifetime 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  would  have  cost  his  own  life.  He  hoped 
against  hope  to  the  very  day  of  the  queen's  death,  that  she 
would  relent  and  proclaim  him  heir  to  the  throne.  But  he 
states  that  the  witnesses  were  then  dead,  and  the  papers  that 
would  authenticate  his  claims  destroyed.  What  could  he  do? 
Simply  what  he  did. 

In  the  peroration  we  find :  "I  fear  that  the  desire  to  drag 
down  Shakespeare  from  his  pedestal,  and  to  treat  the  testimony 
of  his  personal  friends  as  that  of  lying  rogues  is  due  to  that 
antipathy  to  the  actor's  calling  which  has  its  eccentric  mani- 
festations even  to  this  day." 

This  cannot  in  any  way  refer  to  my  book,  for  the  very 
nature  of  this  work  eliminates  personal  thoughts  and  wishes  or 
preconceived  ideas.  It  is  as  mechanical  as  the  reading  of  hiero- 
glyphics, as  naming  perfectly  well-known  objects,  as  discrimin- 
ating the  clicks  of  the  telegraph.  And  as  far  as  Bacon  was 
concerned  he  desired  only  his  right. 

It  is  by  its  great  men  in  every  age  of  the  world  that  the 
actor's  calling  is  dignified,  but  the  genius  of  the  man  of  the 
stage  is  not  necessarily  the  genius  of  the  man  who  wrote  the 
greatest  plays  that  time  through  all  the  centuries  lias  produced. 

EUZABHTH  WRTXS  GaU^UP. 


40 


Now  Ready 
Third  Edition: 

Vhe  SSi^/iierai  Cj/pher  of  J'rancis  SSacon 

Deciphered  by  Elizabeth  Welts  Gallup 


JJhe  Tjra^edj/  of  ^nne  i^oiej/n 

{WORD  CIPHER) 
Deciphered  by  Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup 


GAY  &  BIRD.  HOWARD  PUBLISHING  CO. 

La^^^VNO^^^^  DETROIT.  MICHIGAN.  U.S.  A. 


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